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CU connects Biz Kid fudgemaker with Texas chef

SAN ANTONIO (8/1/08)--Security Service FCU arranged for aspiring chef Eddie Lopez, 12, to meet chef Jason Dady, owner of new San Antonio restaurant Tre Trattoria, after Lopez won the Biz Kid$ Search, a contest sponsored by the credit union and Texas public television station KLRN.

Aspiring chef and winner of Biz Kid$ Search Eddie Lopez, left, learns how to make pasta from San Antonio chef and restaurant owner Jason Dady at Dady’s new restaurant, Tre Trattoria. (Photo provided by Security Service FCU)

Lopez is a Del Rio, Texas, seventh-grader who makes and sells fudge and other chocolate confections in his business--Eddie’s OH’ Fudge. Lopez’s goal is to become a chef and open his own restaurant. Lopez uses his aunt’s family recipe to create Eddie’s OH’ Fudge, which he sells in Del Rio, according to the KLRN website. He found that reading recipes, learning measurements and managing money has helped him with his schoolwork and in trying to overcome his dyslexia. The money he earns goes into a fund for culinary arts school. He also won $100 from the Biz Kid$ Search. Lopez was one of five finalists in the contest. In addition to Tre Trattoria, Dady is chef and owner of two other San Antonio restaurants--The Lodge at Castle Hills and Bin 555. Select Service FCU is an $4.376 billion asset, San Antonio-based credit union. Biz Kid$ is a TV series exclusively underwritten by America's Credit Unions to teach kids about money, with support from the National Credit Union Foundation.